EPA's Proposed Carbon Pollution Standards for Fossil Fuel-Fired Power Plants
On Tuesday, June 6, 2023, at 10:30 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn House Office Building, the Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials will hold a hearing entitled “Clean Power Plan 2.0: EPA’s Latest Attack on Electric Reliability.” The hearing will examine preliminary observations concerning the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed greenhouse pollution standards for the power sector and the reliable delivery of electricity.
Witnesses:- Patrick O’Loughlin, President and CEO, Buckeye Power Inc. and Ohio Rural Electric Cooperatives
- Todd Snitchler, President and CEO, Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA)
- Michael J. Nasi, Partner, Jackson Walker
- Jay Duffy, Litigation Director, Clean Air Task Force
Following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in West Virginia v. EPA, EPA issued on May 11, 2023, an omnibus proposed rulemaking that would limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for fossil fuel-fired power plants, including from both new and existing natural-gas-fired plants and from existing coal-fired plants, pursuant to Section 111 of the Clean Air Act (CAA).
The May 11, 2023, proposal for fossil-fuel fired power plants would set limits for new gasfired combustion turbines, certain existing gas-fired combustion turbines, and existing coal, oil, and gas-fired steam generating units. The proposed standards are based on technologies including carbon capture and sequestration/storage (CCS), low-greenhouse-gas (GHG) hydrogen co-firing, and natural gas co-firing, which can be applied directly to power plants that use fossil fuels to generate electricity.
The proposed rules are part of a larger, comprehensive suite of regulatory actions for power plants. EPA Administrator Regan announced this suite of actions, known as the EGU (for “electric generating unit”) strategy, to address climate, health, and environmental burdens from power plants. These regulatory actions include the Interstate Transport Rule, Regional Haze, Risk and Technology Review for the Mercury Air Toxics Rule, effluent limitations, and a legacy coal combustion residue rule.
In February 2023, the nation’s largest grid operator, the PJM Interconnection, released a report noting that the current pace of retirements of dispatchable generation, mainly coal- and gas-fired generation, may outpace the addition of new resources onto the bulk power system. The PJM report cites three specific EPA policies that are leading contributors to this challenge, coal combustion residuals regulation, effluent limitations, and the Interstate Transport Rule, as key drivers in the loss of some 23 GW generation.Examining the impacts of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s proposed changes to the North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Strike Reduction Rule
On Tuesday, June 6, 2023, at 10:15 a.m., in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, the Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries will hold an oversight budget hearing titled “Examining the impacts of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s proposed changes to the North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Strike Reduction Rule.”
Witnesses:- Janet Coit, Deputy Administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Clayton L. Diamond, Executive Director, American Pilots’ Association
- Fred Gamboa, Captain, Andreas’ Toy Charters, Princeton, NJ
- Frank Hugelmeyer, President and CEO, National Marine Manufacturers Association
- Dr. Jessica Redfern, Associate Vice President of Ocean Conservation Science, Anderson Cabout Center for Ocean Life at New England Aquarium
The North Atlantic right whale (right whale) is an endangered large whale species. The right whale’s name originates from the fact that, as early as the 11th century, whalers considered right whales the “right” whale to hunt. Right whales migrate seasonally along the east coast, spending summer and fall in New England and Canadian waters. During winter months, right whales migrate to the southeastern United States for calving. Protections for right whales began in 1935 with the ratification of the League of Nation’s Convention for Regulation of Whaling. While the 1935 Convention was criticized for being ineffective, it paved the way for the establishment of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). The IWC was established by the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling in 1946 as the global body responsible for the management of whaling and conservation of whales. This included: catch limits by species and area, designating specified areas as whale sanctuaries, protection of calves and females accompanied by calves, and restrictions on hunting methods. Currently, the IWC has 88 signatory governments, including the United States. In 1986, the IWC adopted a global moratorium on commercial whaling due to the depleting whale stocks. In the United States, right whales are protected under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) and the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (MMPA). In fact, right whales were considered endangered in 1970, before the enactment on the ESA. Due to population concerns, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) developed a species recovery plan in 1991 and updated the plan in 2005. Recovery strategies focus on: reducing death and injuries from vessel strikes and commercial fishing operations, identifying important habitat, monitoring the health of the stock, conducting studies on potential threats, and assessing the population. In 2017, NOAA declared an unusual mortality event (UME) for the right whale due to the number of mortalities and serious injuries in the population. While the exact cause of the UME is unknown, vessel strikes and entanglements with commercial fishing gear continue to be considered the leading causes of whale mortalities and injuries.
In 2008, to address vessel strikes, NOAA proposed speed restrictions for vessels over sixty- five feet in length when going through seasonal management areas. In 2013, NOAA made the speed restriction rule permanent. NOAA’s speed restriction rule also stated that NOAA would publish and seek comment on a report evaluating the conservation value and economic and navigational safety impacts of right whale vessel speed regulations, including any recommendations to minimize the burden of such impacts. In January 2021, NOAA released the assessment and initiated a public comment period until the end of March 2021. The assessment made several recommendations, including increasing enforcement, modifying the safety deviation provision so it could not be used as frequently, and expanding the speed restrictions to small vessels. NOAA received over thirty comments. Notably, the American Pilots’ Association, one of the Republican witnesses at today’s hearing, provided comments expressing concerns with requiring “contemporaneous electronic notification” to decrease the number of vessels using the speed restriction exemption to maneuver safely. In addition, their comments strongly opposed expanding the speed restriction rule to vessels smaller than 65 feet, stating that “could be dangerous for our member pilots and the crews that operate their pilot boats.”
On August 1, 2022, NOAA published the proposed rule amending the North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Strike Reduction Rule. The proposed rule extends the applicability of the speed restriction rule to include boats measuring 35 feet and longer, expands the seasonal management areas, makes dynamic management areas mandatory (renamed as dynamic speed zones), and changes how the current safety deviations can be used.
While the proposed rule says the actions are “significant” under Executive Order 12866, something that would normally require review by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the Office of Management and Budget, this rule was not reviewed by OIRA. It was determined that NOAA’s draft Regulatory Impact Review estimated that only approximately 15,899 vessels would be affected by the rule and the cost of $46 million per year was not high enough to warrant review.
NOAA is currently reviewing the over 20,000 public comments submitted for the proposed rule. While there is no official timeline, NOAA anticipates a final rule by the end of the year.
Reauthorizing the Weather Act: Users of Weather Data and Areas for Improvement by Sector
Subcommittee hearing to receive testimony on reauthorization of the Weather Act (the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017).
Opening Statements:- Environment Subcommittee Chair Max Miller (R-Ohio)
- Gary McManus, State Climatologist, Oklahoma Climatological Survey
- Jeanine Jones, Interstate Resources Manager at the California Department of Water Resources representing Western States Water Council
- Eric Snodgrass, Senior Fellow Scientist and Principal Atmospheric Scientist, Nutrien
- Dr. Kathie Dello, PhD, State Climatologist of North Carolina, and Co-Director, NOAA Carolinas Climate Adaptation Partnership (CAP/RISA)
Anti-Regulatory Legislation and Pro-Gas Stoves Legislation
The Committee on Rules will meet Monday, June 5, 2023 at 3:00 PM ET in H-313, The Capitol on the following measures:
- H.R. 277 – REINS Act of 2023, to provide that major rules of the executive branch shall have no force or effect unless a joint resolution of approval is enacted into law
- H.R. 288 – Separation of Powers Restoration Act of 2023, requires courts to decide de novo all questions of law, including the interpretation of statutes, rules, and guidance, without agency deference
- H.R. 1615 – Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act, prohibits the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) from using federal funds to (1) regulate gas stoves as a banned hazardous product, or (2) issue or enforce a product safety standard that prohibits the use or sale of gas stoves or substantially increases their price
- H.R. 1640 – Save Our Gas Stoves Act, prohibits the Secretary of Energy from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing the proposed rule titled “Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Consumer Conventional Cooking Products” or any energy conservation standard if it is likely to result in the unavailability of a type (or class) of product based on what type of fuel that product consumes
The Reliability and Resiliency of Electric Services in the U.S. in Light of Recent Reliability Assessments and Alerts
The purpose of this hearing is to examine the reliability and resiliency of electric service in the United States in light of recent reliability assessments and alerts.
- Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)
- James B. Robb, President & Chief Executive Officer, North American Electric Reliability Corporation
- Manu Asthana, President & Chief Executive Officer, PJM Interconnection, L.L.C.
- Dr. Melissa C. Lott, Senior Research Scholar and Director of Research, Columbia Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs
- David J. Tudor, Chief Executive Officer & General Manager, Associated Electric Cooperative Inc.
Water Affordability and Small System Assistance
On Wednesday, May 31, 2023, at 2:30 pm ET, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife, will hold a hearing to examine the impact of aging drinking water and wastewater infrastructure and rising water rates, as well as recently authorized water affordability programs in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Witnesses:- Kyle Jones, Legal and Policy Director, Community Water Center
- Rosemary Menard, Water Director, City of Santa Cruz
- Mark Pepper, Executive Director, Wyoming Association of Rural Water Systems
Business Meeting on Nomination of Jeff Baran to NRC and ADVANCE Act
Business Meeting Agenda:
- Jeffery Martin Baran to be a Member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
- S.1111, Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy Act of 2023
A bill to enhance United States civil nuclear leadership, support the licensing of advanced nuclear technologies, strengthen the domestic nuclear energy fuel cycle and supply chain, and improve the regulation of nuclear energy, and for other purposes.
H.R. 3746 - Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023
The Committee on Rules will meet Tuesday, May 30, 2023 at 3:00 PM ET in H-313, The Capitol on the following emergency measure:
- H.R. 3746 – Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023
- McClellan (VA)
- Scott (VA)
- Beyer (VA)
- Spanberger (VA)
- Wexton (VA)
- Connolly (VA)
- Self (TX)
Facing the Climate Emergency Book Launch
Join us for the release of Facing the Climate Emergency + discussion with author Margaret Klein Salamon and journalist Roberta Baskin.
About the Book —
Facing the Climate Emergency: How to Transform Yourself with Climate Truth
A lifeline for those suffering from climate anxiety, Facing the Climate Emergency combines Salamon’s expertise in clinical psychology and disruptive climate activism to help readers transform their fear and grief into courage and heroism.
This beloved self-help book provides emphatic guidance for the overwhelmed and concrete strategies for tackling anxiety and other painful climate emotions. Facing the Climate Emergency offers inspiring portraits of ordinary people who are striking school, throwing soup onto paintings, and otherwise disrupting normalcy in order to raise the alarm and create rapid policy change.
Facing the Climate Emergency helps people. That’s why writer and director Adam McKay writes in the foreword to the 2nd edition, “I hope this book becomes as ubiquitous as the Heimlich maneuver in restaurants.”
About the Speakers —
Margaret Klein Salamon, Ph.D, is the executive director of the Climate Emergency Fund, which raises and grants millions of dollars to nonviolent disruptive climate activists. A graduate of Harvard with a Ph.D. from Adelphi University, Margaret brings her psychological expertise to all of her climate work. As founder of the grassroots advocacy group Climate Mobilization, she spearheaded the campaign for governments to acknowledge the climate emergency through an official declaration. A climate emergency has now been declared by over 2,270 global governments, comprising more than 1 billion of the world’s citizens. Her Climate Awakening project facilitates hundreds of virtual and in-person small-group conversations, helping people transform their fear, rage, and despair into effective action.
Roberta Baskin spent more than 30 years as an awarding-winning investigative reporter at CBS News, ABC news, & PBS exposing stories of injustices. Roberta’s storied career garnered more than 75 journalism awards, including three duPont Columbia Awards, two Peabody Awards, and multiple Emmys. Her investigations reformed injustices and improved dozens of health and safety products and practices. She now serves on five non-profit boards dedicated to climate justice and solutions to socio-economic divides.
President’s FY 2024 Budget Request for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Office of Insular Affairs
On Thursday, May 25, 2023, at 9:00 a.m., in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building, Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs will hold an oversight budget hearing titled “Examining the President’s FY 2024 Budget Request for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Office of Insular Affairs.”
Witnesses:- Bryan Newland, Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior
- Carmen Cantor, Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs, Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior
The President’s budget request for Indian Affairs programs in FY 2024 is $4.7 billion, an increase of $690 million over FY 2023. This includes $3 billion for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), $1.6 billion for the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), and $109.1 million for the Bureau of Trust Funds Administration.
During Tribal consultations and listening sessions participants have consistently pointed to the adverse impacts the changing climate is having on Alaska Native subsistence practices and Alaska Native communities, as well as the need to expand Tribal co-management partnerships and the incorporation of Indigenous Knowledge into subsistence management. In response to Tribal recommendations heard through these engagements, the FY 2024 budget proposes to transfer the functions of the Office of Subsistence Management from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, along with a program increase of $2.5 million for the program.
$12 million for the creation of a new Tribal Land and Water Conservation Fund land acquisition program. During listening sessions held last year, Tribes identified having direct access to Land and Water Conservation Fund resources for conservation and recreation projects as one of their top priorities.
The budget includes $385.9 million, a $52.7 million increase over 2023 enacted, for critical trust natural resources activities and investing in climate resilience and environmental justice. Of that amount, $48.0 million is provided for the Tribal Climate Resilience program. This program includes the Tribal Climate Adaptation Grant program, which is funded at $24.8 million to better assess and meet Tribal climate adaptation needs, and the Climate Relocation Grant program, which is funded at $15.5 million, $6 million more than the 2023 enacted amount. The Tribal Climate Resilience program also includes $7.8 million for Tribal youth corps programs.